The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Rosemary Harper joins the aging Wayfarer hoping for distance from her past and a quieter life among strangers. The ship’s crew is diverse in species, temperament, and history, and Rosemary must adjust to close quarters, unfamiliar customs, and a workplace that quickly begins to feel like a family.

The Wayfarer takes on a lucrative job building a wormhole route through dangerous territory, sending the crew on a long journey across multiple worlds. Along the way, the story moves through a series of encounters, stops, and smaller crises that reveal each crewmember’s background, relationships, and way of making a life in a vast interspecies society.

As the trip grows riskier, the crew is forced to depend on one another. Rosemary’s journey becomes one of learning trust, love, and connection, while the ship’s ensemble confronts the pressures of their work, their pasts, and the realities of living together in deep space.